


31 Stories from the Gotei 13

by scrie (Elenius)



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-28
Updated: 2012-10-04
Packaged: 2017-11-15 05:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenius/pseuds/scrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of ficlets based on past prompts from the 31_days LJ community. Gen and various pairings, spoiler-ish on occasion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Those who put passion in the place of reason (the Eleventh Division)

There is no fourth seat in the Eleventh Division. Not that anyone cares, because a) it would be _wrong_ ; and b) caring would be the same as being willing to occupy it, and occupying it would mean being slightly better than Yumichika and slightly worse than Ikkaku, but just enough to keep both from becoming too interested. 

Instead, everyone chooses to overlook this administrative oddity and carry on with their duties. Which, for members of the Eleventh Division, largely consist of beating people up or getting a good thrashing themselves. 

Those at the top are a bit like gods. A reason for often excessive pride and a sure ticket to winning that game of My Captain Can Beat Up Your Captain (or its recent version of My Fifth Seat Can Beat Up Your Vice-captain) that tends to come up whenever too much alcohol is involved.


	2. School-men and metaphysicians (Mayuri, Nemu)

Kurotsuchi Mayuri is first and foremost a scientist and, as such, not particularly prone to introspection. He doesn’t care about notions of right and wrong, because they make no sense. To him the world is simply divided into what is interesting and what is not. Interesting things can be broken down, dissected and minced into particles, until they become uninteresting, because when things are small enough, they all tend to look the same. Mayuri doesn’t care about essence and nature, he cares about processes. A heart without a beat is just a mass of flesh. A beat – invisible and impossible to define beyond the notion of electric impulses produced by the brain – a beat gives it life. And that is quite extraordinary.

Nemu doesn’t care about right and wrong either. Her world is divided into what Mayuri-sama wants, and what he does not. It has never crossed her mind to complain about the way he treats her. Because really, without Mayuri-sama what would she be? A mass of flesh, if that much at all.


	3. Speak to me in riddles (Byakuya, Senbonzakura)

Senbonzakura speaks of herself as would a queen. It’s always ‘we’ this, ‘we’ that.

We are displeased.

We have no interest.

She is beautiful to behold, but makes for terrible company. She is, after all, the faithful mirror of his character, which is why Byakuya finds her impossible most of the time. 

When he asks her about Hisana one day, she gives a little grimace for good measure, and then says, ‘We approve. Truly, she makes you act like a fool.’

Later, she says the same about Rukia.

She is not the kindest of advisors, but she knows his heart better than anyone.


	4. Every man carries a touchstone (Hisagi, Kazeshini)

Hisagi Shuuhei is a decent guy. He is polite, collected and reliable, although his appearance sometimes gives his tutors the wrong idea. He has a good attendance record, and his work tends to be neat and to the point. He is not so much a genius as he is a hard worker and it's this, rather than anything else, that eventually pushes him into the ranks of the Gotei 13 even before graduation.

His first soul burial is an old woman from a remote village in the human world. Hisagi finds himself flustered and worried about making a poor impression. But she pats his arm and tells him, with the sort of leer that only old grandmothers could get away with, that he is a handsome young man, and that she hopes she can find a house with a good kotatsu on the other side. 

Hisagi thinks this is oddly reassuring. He doesn't tell anyone that he has just achieved shikai a few days before, and that the shape of its release terrifies him, perhaps even more than the shape of its spirit. He wonders how many decades of training will be necessary before he can draw Kazeshini without being afraid it would go off and kill everything that moves around him, including, perhaps, its wielder. So instead he resolves to work hard enough so that he wouldn’t need to bring it out at all. 

Death is your job, his tutors, and later his captain, tell him. 

No, Kazeshini, who knows better, says instead. It’s your nature.


	5. The theory and practice of impermanence (Byakuya, AU)

‘Grandfather, what does it look like? Senbonzakura?’

Snow drifted above them in a flurry of white, settling quietly on tree branches and dark cobblestones.

‘You said you’d show me.’ He was barely tall enough to see over the railing, so he sat hunched, watching the fall through the wooden bars with that self-absorbed air only children are sometimes capable of.

‘Uncle Renji says his zampakuto is a big monkey.’

‘Yes. The fact always failed to surprise me,’ Byakuya observed mildly.

‘And he says yours is probably a really pretty lady because he thinks you--‘ a small nose wrinkled in concentration ‘--developed a com-plex when you were young.’

‘Uncle Renji is a compulsive liar,’ Byakuya said, without malice. He allowed the idea to settle.

‘You mean,’ his grandson wondered after a few moments of consideration, ‘it _isn’t_ a really pretty lady?’

Byakuya sighed. It was a comfort, however small, to know that the literal-mindedness did not come from his side of the family.

‘I will show you tomorrow,’ he said. Then, as an afterthought, he reached down and took the child’s arm gently. ‘Stand up straight, please.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grandpa!Byakuya is an older project of mine that unfortunately never materialized beyond this point.


	6. One thing wrapped around another (Byakuya, Renji, AU)

'We have been given a respite,' Byakuya announces as he sweeps inside and settles himself in a chair, hands smoothing the stray folds on his haori. On the other side of the room, Renji resumes his slow, difficult pacing without a word, and the captain allows himself to watch for a while.  
'I believe bed rest was ordered,' he says, with a hint of disapproval.  
'Yessir.'  
'Surely you do not intend to exasperate Unohana-taichou any further.'  
'Nosir.'

Byakuya sighs inwardly, and wonders at himself. The past several days - difficult days for the Sixth -have left a mark on both of them. Renji aches to return to his duties, but there is something else beneath the stubborn silence.

'My sister is handling things well,' he says, because such things are required at such times. 'The Kurosaki boy also.'

There is only a moment between Renji's inadvertently pained expression and the crooked smile that follows, and something at the back of the captain's mind says, _ah._

'I appreciate it, Sir.'

Poor fool, Byakuya thinks, not unkindly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written some time ago, which is why it's now canon AU. It might fit into the events in the current arc, except in the current arc Byakuya is a bloody smear in a crater inside a wall. So, canon AU.


	7. Doused his flare of rebellion (Ikkaku, Yachiru, Yumichika)

'I refuse.'

Yumichika stifled a smile and tugged lightly at Yachiru's hand. 'I told you it's useless, Vice-captain.' And then added, 'He's a stubborn bastard,' for good measure. 

'Aaw, c'mon, Baldy. It'll be fun!'

'No.'  
'You can teach it to the whole squad and then we'll be famous for it.'

' _I'm_ already famous for it.'

'You can teach it to Ken-chan then!'

Yumichika contemplated the prospect for a moment before he decided it's best not to linger over the mental imagery.

'No, thank you. I want to live.'

Yachiru's eyes narrowed dangerously. 

'A-- and I guess I'm gonna have to do it if I want to live, right?'

He didn't really think the Eleventh Division needed a trademark synchronized dance routine, but the last time Yachiru had shown that particular expression she'd nearly chewed through his skull.


End file.
